Blonde Reflection
by The Uke Reformation
Summary: Gaara muses over being a Jinchuuriki and human at the same time, and discovery of self through the one person he loves most. Gaara x Naruto. Oneshot. Drabble. Response to Little Leila's fic challenge.


**Title: **Blonde Reflection

**Author: **_The Uke Reformation_

**Genre: **Naruto

**Subgenre:** General/Romance

**Summary:** Gaara muses over being a Jinchuuriki and human at the same time, and discovery of self through the one person he loves most. Gaara x Naruto. Drabble. Response to **Little Leila's** fic challenge.

**Rated: PG-13** for implied sexual content.

**Author's Note:** I was bored and needed to refresh my mind to keep going on None the Wiser, so I went on an epic search for fan fiction challenges! I know I'm pitiful...but it's getting hard for me to think. So I'm going to meditate on the subject for a while by doing something else...does that make sense? Hope you guys like it, anyway.

**Note:** Yaoi, unBETAd - don't like, don't read, don't flame. Also, slight spoiler for those who haven't read the 'Retrieval of the Kazekage' chapters, available on narutochuushin(dot)com. Love!

**Disclaimer: Copyright _The Uke Reformation_, 2006. All rights reserved.**

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Blonde Reflection

_by The Uke Reformation_

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Gaara never knew why Uzumaki Naruto had to be so damned difficult about the whole thing - he himself had absolutely no bones to pick over being gay. He wasn't one to fret over such trivial issues as sexuality. If something was one way, that was the way it was, and he wasn't going to try and change it. Although, when it came to liking boys, having his blonde around certainly gave him many more reasons _not_ to fight it.

But Naruto fought _everything_: his teachers, his peers, his friends, his enemies, him_self_, his fate and destiny, society, dates, kisses, any outward sign of affection, sex. It was as if he couldn't stop being combative for the life in him (of which there was boundless amounts) and he could never understand Gaara's frustration with him on those fronts.

Gaara, of course, was much more used to simply giving in and then smothering it if that's what he chose to do. He wasn't loud because he felt no need to be. He didn't show how much he craved other people's attention, love, and forgiveness because it was unsafe, and (underneath it all) he really didn't think he deserved it.

Naruto was the only one who knew from personal experience how distant he forced himself because of what Chiyo-baasama had, for the good of the Sand, forced him to become. Naruto, fighter though he was, was the only one in the world with the condition to understand and empathize with him.

Maybe that was how he'd fallen for him in the first place.

It wasn't as if he particularly liked boys over girls. He didn't particularly like people at all - they were too loud and too fussy and too opinionated, annoying, and cynical. They got in the way, and they were cruel to one another and themselves. He understood - as Naruto had _forced_ him to understand - that they could be different; kind-hearted of their own accord, like his siblings. But, in general, he didn't care for their company. They were far too worried for their own benefit, anyway.

But he was the Kazekage, after all, and Naruto would always scold him whenever he talked this way.

"It's your duty to protect those people now. You can't go around hating them all your life. Redeem yourself, for Christ' sake."

Of course, as punishment for such words Gaara would usually have his way with him right there, in a space that was as uncomfortable as he could possibly find. He had discovered a long time ago that one of the only ways to shut Naruto up was with your own mouth, whether you were interrupting him with words or with you lips.

Lips were preferable in Gaara's mind. He wasn't much of one for talking.

It was odd, though, that he should find so much comfort in someone who did. They were complete opposites and he knew it very well, but they were the same tortured beings in a way that was untouchable. Naruto was a blonde reflection of himself, whenever that mask would slip, and vice versa.

Perhaps that was why the Revelation hit him so hard when he awoke from death to find Naruto smiling down at him, people standing all around. Months later when he finally had him, he would begin chanting the words in his head like an oath whenever they made love, and whispering them in the Kyuubi holder's ear whenever he could.

"I love you, Uzumaki Naruto. I love you, I love you, I love you."

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**Owari**

-smiles- Squeeeee. That was fun. Its way over the word count dear **Leila-chan** requested, but it was fun to write anyway. I'm still thinking on NTW so if anybody has any more challenges they think I should take part in, I would be delighted. Either mention them in your review, or post them in a comment on my LJ (which is now provided as my homepage, but can be found at the following address):

**http(colon)(slash-slash)www(dot)livejournal(dot)com(slash)users(slash)tsuzukinoai**

Thanks for reading. I really am grateful to all of you for putting up with my crap...and I hope nobody hates me. Long live the king!


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